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Which Scandinavian language to study? | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Skandinavisk & Nordisk |  | |
| Jenne:) Tetraglot Newbie Netherlands polyglotquest.wordpr Joined 4473 days ago 38 posts - 56 votes  Speaks: Dutch*, English, German, French Studies: Norwegian | Message 105 of 169 24 September 2012 at 2:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I believe Finnish is not a Scandinavian language, even though, historically, Finland is part of Scandinavia. Nowadays, Scandinavia consists of Norway, Sweden en Denmark. Finnish does not belong to the same language family as the Scandinavian languages. Whereas Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish are North Germanic languages, Finnish is a Uralic one. Finland is one of the Nordic countries, however, the others being Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland. So it is a Nordic language, but not a Scandinavian one :).
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| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English | Message 106 of 169 09 November 2012 at 7:25am | IP Logged | ||
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If you want to get maximum bang for your buck when learning a mainland Scandinavian language, learn Norwegian (Bokmål). It will give you a very strong understanding of written Danish, and open you up well to spoken Swedish.
If you want to be able to also understand spoken Danish, Swedish should the last language you learn. Try Norwegian and you'll get a headstart. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4674 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 107 of 169 09 November 2012 at 7:37pm | IP Logged | ||
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But only 20 % of Norwegians speak Bokmål, or dialects close to it; if you go to Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø, Stavanger, you won't understand the people. And Norwegians DO NOT code switch to Bokmål in formal situations, Bokmål is for 80% of Norwegians just a written language. Edited by Medulin on 09 November 2012 at 7:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| limey75 Senior Member United Kingdom germanic.eu/ Joined 4405 days ago 119 posts - 182 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Norwegian, Old English | Message 108 of 169 09 November 2012 at 7:47pm | IP Logged | ||
But it's the standard in Norway that the majority understand. If you learnt "Nynorsk" you will be further away from Danish, and probably Swedish too. But you might have an easier time with Icelandic ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| louisjanus Newbie United States NorwegianLanguage.inRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5625 days ago 11 posts - 19 votes Speaks: English* | Message 109 of 169 09 November 2012 at 8:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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how do you define close? My definition is that Oslovians understand and can be understood around Norway. Of
course you'll understand the speakers from Trondheim, Tromsø, Stavanger.... if you have a good open mind. And whoever said 20% of the people SPEAK bokmål. 0% speak bokmål. Everyone speaks his/ her own regional dialect. Some dialects are closer to WRITTEN bokmål. And my wife, a fluent Swedish speaker, finds nynorsk easier to understand than bokmål. Although she can do just fine with either. Sogning however, is another matter altogether. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| daegga Tetraglot Senior Member Austria lang-8.com/553301 Joined 4527 days ago 1076 posts - 1792 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Swedish, Norwegian Studies: Danish, French, Finnish, Icelandic | Message 110 of 169 16 November 2012 at 10:43pm | IP Logged | ||
Sure you can understand them. Especially the dialects spoken in Bergen and Trondheim are not that far off. Exposure is everything, it just takes some time to get used to. Norwegian dialects seem to be a lot closer to the written language than some German dialects to Standard German. No need to code switch. Reading some Nynorsk (should be possible without further learning once you are good in Bokmål) and stuff written in dialect (on the internet... and "Dinas Bok" has the dialogues in a Trøndelag dialect for example) might help to close the gap if necessary. Edited by daegga on 16 November 2012 at 10:50pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 jeff_lindqvist Diglot Moderator SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6915 days ago 4250 posts - 5711 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English Studies: German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Mandarin, Esperanto, Irish, French Personal Language Map | Message 111 of 169 17 November 2012 at 12:04am | IP Logged | ||
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After comparing random Wikipedia articles in both Nynorsk and Bokmål, I have no problems understanding either. The neverending question which Norwegian variety to learn is a nonissue, in my opinion. It's on the same level as British vs. American English, or European vs. Brazilian Portuguese.
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| louisjanus Newbie United States NorwegianLanguage.inRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5625 days ago 11 posts - 19 votes Speaks: English* | Message 112 of 169 17 November 2012 at 10:25pm | IP Logged | ||
Of course it all depends on the purpose of learning Norwegian. If reading texts is the most important for you, it doesn't matter. If writing, it does matter a little more, as it is considered bad style to mix forms between bokmål and nynorsk. If speaking is of primary interest, learn a regional dialect. Neither bokmål nor nynorsk is a spoken standard. I'd guess the differences in writing between Br and Am English are trifling when compared to the bokmål / nynorsk differences. As a Swede, do you think that learning Danish is a non-issue? Edited by louisjanus on 18 November 2012 at 5:18pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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